Wagering game with temporally independent outcomes

ABSTRACT

A method for playing a wagering game includes receiving a first wager input and a second wager input from a player for playing a single game cycle of a wagering game. A first randomly selected outcome is selected from a plurality of outcomes in response to the first wager input, and a second randomly selected outcome of the plurality of outcomes is selected in response to the second wager input. The first randomly selected outcome is indicated temporally independent of indicating the second randomly selected outcome.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to gaming terminals for playinga wagering game and, more particularly, to a gaming terminal having aplurality of temporally independent outcomes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Gaming machines, such as slot machines, video poker machines, and thelike, have been a cornerstone of the gaming industry for several years.Generally, the popularity of such machines with players is dependent onthe likelihood (or perceived likelihood) of winning money at the machineand the intrinsic entertainment value of the machine relative to otheravailable gaming options. Where the available gaming options include anumber of competing machines and the expectation of winning each machineis roughly the same (or believed to be the same), players are mostlikely to be attracted to the most entertaining and exciting of themachines.

Consequently, shrewd operators strive to employ the most entertainingand exciting machines available because such machines attract frequentplay and, hence, increase profitability to the operator. In thecompetitive gaming machine industry, there is a continuing need forgaming machine manufacturers to produce new types of games, orenhancements to existing games, which will attract frequent play byenhancing the entertainment value and excitement associated with thegame.

One concept that has been successfully employed to enhance theentertainment value of a game is that of a “secondary” or “bonus” gamewhich may be played in conjunction with a “basic” game. The bonus game,which is entered upon the occurrence of a selected event such as astart-bonus outcome of the basic game, may comprise any type of game,either similar to or completely different from the basic game. Such abonus game produces a significantly higher level of player excitementthan the basic game because it provides a greater expectation of winningthan the basic game.

Some current wagering games provide the player with the choice ofselecting multiple wagers, each wager having a corresponding randomlyselected outcome. For example, a wagering game receives a plurality ofwager inputs from the player and, then, the corresponding plurality ofoutcomes is indicated. One problem associated with this type of wageringgames is that the outcomes are indicated in the received order of theircorresponding wager inputs. For example, a first outcome, whichcorresponds to a first wager input, is indicated before a secondoutcome, which corresponds to a second wager input, if the first wagerinput is received before the second wager input. Thus, the outcomes aretemporally dependent on their respective wager input. Using afirst-received first-indicated pattern tends to decrease theentertainment and value of the wagering game because the player may getbored of such a repetitive and predictable pattern.

Thus, there is a need to provide a wagering game that indicates gameoutcomes temporally independent of each other, irrespective of the timethat their corresponding wager inputs were received. The presentinvention fulfills this and other needs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

A method for playing a wagering game includes receiving a first wagerinput and a second wager input from a player for playing a single gamecycle of a wagering game. A first randomly selected outcome is selectedfrom a plurality of outcomes in response to the first wager input, and asecond randomly selected outcome of the plurality of outcomes isselected in response to the second wager input. The first randomlyselected outcome is indicated temporally independent of indicating thesecond randomly selected outcome.

In another aspect of the present invention, a method for conducting awagering game includes receiving a plurality of wager inputs from aplayer for playing a single game cycle of a wagering game. A pluralityof outcomes corresponding to the plurality of wager inputs is selectedin response to the receiving step, each one of the correspondingoutcomes being randomly selected from a plurality of outcomes. Thecorresponding outcomes are each indicated temporally independent of eachother.

In an alternative aspect of the present invention, a gaming system forplaying a wagering game on a gaming terminal includes a display on thegaming terminal for displaying at least two outcomes of a plurality ofoutcomes. The at least two outcomes are randomly selected in response toeach outcome receiving a corresponding wager input from a player playinga single game cycle of the wagering game. The gaming system furtherincludes a controller coupled to the display. The controller isprogrammed to indicate on the display the at least two outcomestemporally independent of each other.

The above summary of the present invention is not intended to representeach embodiment, or every aspect, of the present invention. Additionalfeatures and benefits of the present invention are apparent from thedetailed description, figures, and claims set forth below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a video gaming terminal according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of the gaming terminal of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an illustration representing the timeline of multiple wagersand their respective outcomes, according to an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 4 is an illustration of a game screen having a low-paying paytable,according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an illustration of the game screen of FIG. 4 having ahigh-paying paytable.

FIG. 6 is an illustration of the game screen of FIG. 4 having a higherbet.

FIG. 7 is an illustration of the game screen of FIG. 4 having a fishpellet shown in an initial location.

FIG. 8 is an illustration of the game screen of FIG. 7 having the fishpellet shown in an intermediate location.

FIG. 9 is an illustration of the game screen of FIG. 7 having the fishpellet shown as being swallowed by a fish.

FIG. 10 is an illustration of the game screen of FIG. 7 having the fishpellet shown in a final location.

FIG. 11 is an illustration of the game screen of FIG. 7 having a bonusgame awarded.

FIG. 12 is an illustration of the game screen FIG. 4 having a pluralityof fish pellets, according to another embodiment of the presentinvention.

While the invention is susceptible to various modifications andalternative forms, specific embodiments are shown by way of example inthe drawings and are described in detail herein. It should beunderstood, however, that the invention is not intended to be limited tothe particular forms disclosed. Rather, the invention is to cover allmodifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spiritand scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENTS

Referring to FIG. 1, a gaming terminal 10 is used in gamingestablishments such as casinos. With regard to the present invention,the gaming terminal 10 may be any type of gaming terminal and may havevarying structures and methods of operation. For example, the gamingterminal 10 may be a mechanical gaming terminal configured to playmechanical slots, or it may be an electromechanical or electrical gamingterminal configured to play a video casino game, such as blackjack,slots, keno, poker, etc.

The gaming terminal 10 includes input devices, such as a wager acceptor16, a touch screen 21, a push-button panel 22, and aplayer-identification card reader 24. For output the gaming terminal 10includes a payout mechanism 23 and a main display 26. The main display26 displays information about the basic wagering game and, optionally,displays information about a bonus wagering game and a progressivewagering game. The gaming terminal 10 may optionally include a secondarygame display 27 for displaying the bonus wagering game, or fordisplaying award amounts of a progressive game. While these typicalcomponents found in the gaming terminal 10 are described below, itshould be understood that numerous other elements may exist and may beused in any number of combinations to create various forms of a gamingterminal.

The wager acceptor 16 may be provided in many forms, individually or incombination. The wager acceptor 16 may include a note acceptor 16 a orcoin slot acceptor 16 b to input value to the gaming terminal 10. Or,the wager acceptor 16 may include a card-reading device for reading acard that has a recorded monetary value with which it is associated. Thecard may also authorize access to a central account, which can transfermoney to the gaming terminal 10.

The push button panel 22 is typically offered, in addition to the touchscreen 21, to provide players with an option on how to make their gameselections. Alternatively, the push button panel 22 provides inputs forone aspect of operating the game, while the touch screen 21 allows forinputs needed for another aspect of operating the game.

The operation of the basic wagering game is displayed to the player onthe main display 26, which can also display the bonus game associatedwith the basic wagering game. The main display 26 may take the form of acathode ray tube (CRT), a high resolution LCD, a plasma display, a LED,or any other type of video display suitable for use in the gamingterminal 10. As shown, the main display 26 includes the touch screen 21overlaying the entire monitor (or a portion thereof) to allow players tomake game-related selections. Alternatively, the gaming terminal 10 mayhave a number of mechanical reels to display the game outcome.

The player-identification card reader 24 allows for the identificationof a player by reading a card with information indicating his or hertrue identity. Currently, casinos use the identification provided toreward certain players with complimentary services or special offers.For example, a player may be enrolled in the gaming establishment'splayers' club and may be awarded certain complimentary services as thatplayer collects points in his or her player-tracking account. The playerinserts his or her card into the player-identification card reader 24,which allows the casino's computers to register that player's wageringat the gaming terminal 10.

A player begins play of the basic wagering game by inserting a wagerinput into the wager input accepter 16 of the gaming terminal 10. Indirect response to the wager, the gaming machine provides the playerwith one or more cycles of the game. For each “game cycle,” the gamingmachine generates at least one random event using a random numbergenerator at the beginning of the cycle and provides an award to theplayer for a winning outcome of the random event. A player can selectplay by either using the touch screen 21 or the push-button panel 22.One or more outcomes of a plurality of outcomes are randomly selected inresponse to the wagering input by the player. One of the pluralities ofrandomly selected outcomes is a start-bonus outcome, which can includeany variations of symbols or symbol combinations triggering a bonusgame.

As shown in FIG. 2, the various components of the gaming terminal 10 arecontrolled by a central processing unit (CPU) 30, also referred to as aprocessor (such as a microprocessor or microcontroller). To provide thegaming functions, the CPU 30 executes one or more game programs. The CPU30 performs the random selection of an outcome from the plurality ofoutcomes of the wagering game. The CPU 30 is also coupled to or includesa system memory 32. The system memory 32 may comprise a volatile memory33 (e.g., a random-access memory (RAM)) and a non-volatile memory 34(e.g., an EEPROM). It should be appreciated that the CPU 30 may includeone or more microprocessors. Similarly, the memory 32 may includemultiple RAM and multiple program memories.

Communications between the peripheral components of the gaming terminal10 and the CPU 30 occur through input/output (I/O) circuits 35 a. Assuch, the CPU 30 also controls and receives inputs from the peripheralcomponents of the gaming terminal 10. Further, the CPU 30 communicateswith external systems via the I/O circuits 35 b. Although the I/Ocircuits 35 may be shown as a single block, it should be appreciatedthat the I/O circuits 35 may include a number of different types of I/Ocircuits.

The gaming terminal 10 is typically operated as part of a game controlnetwork 50 having control circuitry and one or more memory devices 52.The gaming terminal 10 often has multiple serial ports, each portdedicated to providing data to a specific host computer system thatperforms a specific function (e.g., accounting system, player-trackingsystem, progressive game control system, etc). To set up a typicalserial communication hardware link to the host system, the typicalRS-232 point-to-point communication protocol that is often present inthe gaming terminal 10 is converted to an RS-485 (or RS-485-type)master-slave protocol so as to take advantage of some of the advantagesof the RS-485 capability (e.g., multi-drop capability that allows manygaming terminals 10 to communicate with the game control network 50). Toperform this function, a custom interface board may be used by thegaming terminal 10 for each communication port in the gaming terminal10. It should be noted that the gaming terminal 10 can initially bedesigned to be configured for a typical RS-485 protocol, instead of thetypical RS-232 protocol. Further, the gaming terminal 10 may simply bedesigned for an Ethernet connection to the game control network 50.

The gaming terminal 10 and associated gaming control system is capableof executing wagering games on or through a controller 60. Controller60, as used herein, comprises any combination of hardware, software,and/or firmware that may be disposed or resident inside and/or outsideof a gaming terminal 10 or like machine which may communicate withand/or control the transfer of data between the gaming terminal and abus, another computer, processor, or device, and/or a service and/or anetwork. The network may include, but is not limited to a peer-to-peer,client/server, master/slave, star network, ring network, bus network, orother network architecture wherein at least one processing device (e.g.,computer) is linked to at least one other processing device. Thecontroller 60 may comprise the I/O circuits 35 a, 35 b and the CPU 30.In other embodiments, the CPU 30 may be housed outside of the controller60, and a different processor may be housed within the controller 60.The controller 60, as used herein, may comprise one or more controllers.In one implementation, each gaming terminal 10 comprises, or isconnected to, a controller 60 enabling each gaming terminal 10 totransmit and/or receive signals, preferably both, in a peer-to-peerarrangement. In another example, the controller 60 may be adapted tofacilitate communication and/or data transfer for one or more gamingterminals 10 in a client/server or centralized arrangement. In oneaspect, shown in FIG. 2, the controller 60 may connect the gamingterminal 10 via a conventional I/O port and communication path (e.g.,serial, parallel, IR, RC, 10bT, etc.) to a game network 50, which mayinclude, for example, other gaming terminals connected together in thenetwork 50.

Referring now to FIG. 3, a plurality of timelines is shown to illustratethe time sequence of four exemplary events that are associated with awagering game. The four events include the following: A) receive firstwager, B) receive second wager, C) indicate first outcome, and D)indicate second outcome. The first outcome is associated with the firstwager and the second outcome is associated with the second wager. Thus,in response to the wagering game receiving the first wager from theplayer, the wagering game indicates the first outcome from a pluralityof randomly selected outcomes. Similarly, in response to the wageringgame receiving the second wager from the player, the wagering gameindicates the second outcome from the plurality of outcomes.

The first wager and the second wager are made during the same game cycleof the wagering game. In addition, the receipt of the wager includes anysteps required to initiate a game-play sequence, such as, e.g., touchinga screen to make a fish-food pellet appear as described below inreference to FIGS. 4-12.

A first timeline 100 shows the first wager A being received before thesecond wager B, and the first outcome C being indicated before thesecond outcome D. The first timeline 100 follows a first-receivedfirst-indicated pattern, in which each outcome is temporally dependenton the corresponding wager. This type of pattern generally, but notnecessarily, implies that an outcome associated with an earlier receivedwager should be indicated before an outcome associated with a laterreceived wager. Thus, the first outcome C may be referred to as beingdependent, as a function of time, on the first wager A, and the secondoutcome D may be referred to as being dependent, as a function of time,on the second wager B. Another way of describing the relationshipbetween the outcomes C, D and the corresponding wagers A, B is to saythat the outcomes C, D are temporally dependent on the correspondingwagers A, B. Further, it can be implied that the second outcome D istemporally dependent on the first outcome C because the second outcome Dwill not be indicated until the first outcome C has been indicated.

A second timeline 102 shows the first wager A being received before thesecond wager B, and the second outcome D being indicated before thefirst outcome C. The pattern exemplified in the second timeline 102 isgenerally unexpected by the player because it does not follow the firstreceived first-indicated pattern of the first timeline 100. In thisexample, the player observes the outcome associated with a later wagerbefore the player observes the outcome associated with an earlier wager.

A third timeline 104 shows the first wager A being received before thesecond wager B, and the first outcome C being indicated generallysimultaneously with the second outcome D. Although the two wager inputsA, B were received at different points in time, the correspondingoutcomes C, D are indicated generally simultaneously.

A fourth timeline 106 shows the first wager A being received generallysimultaneously with the first wager B, and the first outcome C beingindicated before the second outcome D. Although the two wager inputs A,B were received generally simultaneously, the corresponding outcomes C,D are indicated at different points in time, i.e., the first outcome Cbefore the second outcome D.

A fifth timeline 108 shows the first wager A being received generallysimultaneously with the first wager B, and the second outcome D beingindicated before the first outcome C. Although the two wager inputs A, Bwere received generally simultaneously, the corresponding outcomes C, Dare indicated at different points in time, i.e., the second outcome Dbefore the first outcome C.

A sixth timeline 110 shows the first wager A being received generallysimultaneously with the first wager B, and the first outcome C beingindicated generally simultaneously with the second outcome D. In thisexample, the outcomes C, D are indicated generally at the same point intime.

Referring to FIG. 4, the main display 26 includes a game screen 112 anda paytable 114, according to one embodiment that provides the ability tohave the various time sequences illustrated in FIG. 3. The game screen112 includes a main screen 112 a and a secondary screen 112 b. Apaytable 114 illustrates the awards that may be awarded to a playerbased on predetermined criteria, e.g., the smallest fish awards onecredit and the biggest fish awards five credits.

A total bet indicator 116, which indicates the total amount of creditswagered by the player during a game cycle of the wagering game, islocated at the bottom of the main screen 112 a and adjacent to thesecondary screen 112 b. The total bet indicator 116 is surrounded byfour selection keys: a bet-amount decrease key 118, a bet-amountincrease key 120, a bet-number increase key 122, and a bet-numberdecrease key 124. Further, a cost indicator 126 and a bet indicator 128are located below the paytable 114. In addition, a plurality of swimmingfish 130, which are used to indicate the outcome of the player's wager,are displayed in the main screen 112 a.

The player can choose different kinds of food for feeding the fish 130.Wagering the lowest type of food costs one credit per pellet and has alow paytable 114. After making at least one wager, the players isdirected to touch the main display 26 anywhere within the screen 112 toinitiate the time sequence for indicating the corresponding randomlyselected outcome. Some exemplary outcomes are described in more detailbelow.

Referring to FIG. 5, the player has optionally selected a higher-payfish-food pellet. Using the bet-amount increase key 120, the player hasincreased the cost per wager (or bet) to five credits. The cost perwager is shown by the cost indicator 126. Optionally, the paytable 114has now changed to a high paytable that awards higher awards than thelow paytable, e.g., the smallest fish awards two credits and the biggestfish awards one hundred credits.

Referring to FIG. 6, the player has optionally selected multiple wagers.Using the bet-number increase key 122, the player has increased thenumber of wagers per game cycle. As shown by the bet indicator 128, theplayer has selected to make five wagers. Because each wager cost fivecredits, the total bet, as indicated by the total bet indicator 116, isnow twenty-five credits.

Referring to FIG. 7, the player touches the screen 112 to make a pellet132 appear. The pellet 132 has cost the player five credits and it isthe sole wager that has been received by the wagering game. In general,the player can touch the screen 112 anywhere to provide an initiallocation for the pellet 132.

Referring to FIG. 8, the pellet 132 drifts down slowly towards thesecondary screen 112 b. As the pellet 132 drifts down, the fish 130 swimnear the pellet. Optionally, the length of time that it takes the pelletto drift downwards can vary from game cycle to game cycle and can benonlinear. For example, the pellet 132 can drift slower in the upperhalf of the main screen 112 a than in the lower half of the main screen112 a. Alternatively, the pellet 132 can travel horizontally if bumpedby a fish 130 or if it is pushed by a water current.

Referring to FIG. 9, the pellet 132 has been shown eaten by a fish 130.The award paid for this type of fish is five credits. Thus, the randomlyselected outcome corresponding to the five credit wager received fromthe player is a five credit award. The length of time that has occurredbetween the time that the player has initiated the pellet 132 (i.e., theplayer touched the screen) and the time that the fish 130 has eaten thepellet 132 can be random and/or nonlinear. For example, assumingeverything else is the same, the length of time between the touching ofthe screen 112 and the eating of the pellet 132 can be longer or shorterwhen the wagering game receives a second wager from the player.

FIG. 10 illustrates an outcome for the pellet 132 that is different fromthe outcome in FIG. 9. In FIG. 10, the pellet 132 has been alternativelyshown as falling to the bottom of the screen 112, in the secondaryscreen 112 a. If none of the fish 130 eat the pellet 132, it disappears.Consequently, the player has not won any awards.

Referring to FIG. 11, another alternative outcome to the wager input canbe a bonus outcome. The pellet 132 has dropped to the secondary screen112 a. Although none of the fish 130 has eaten the pellet 132, a crab132 comes onto the secondary screen 112 a and snatches the pellet 132 toaward the player a bonus. The bonus can be, for example, a bonus game, aprogressive game, a bonus award, etc.

Referring to FIG. 12, a further alternative can be shown as the playerhas made multiple wager inputs, which results in a situation that isgenerally similar to the first second timeline 102 and third timeline104 in FIG. 3. Specifically, the player has made four wagers (shown bythe bet indicator 128) for five credits each (shown by the costindicator 126) for a total bet of twenty credits (shown by the total betindicator 116). The player has touched the screen 112 to initiatepellets 232 a-232 d, wherein the suffixes “a,” “b,” “c,” and “d”indicate the sequential ordering of the placement of the wagers.Specifically the first pellet 232 a is located in the right-most part ofthe screen 112, the second pellet 232 b is located in the right-centralpart of the screen 112, the third pellet 232 c is located in theleft-central part of the screen 112, and the fourth pellet 232 d islocated in the left-most part of the screen 112.

The first pellet 232 a, which is the first wager of the player, hasdrifted less than half way down the screen 112. The second pellet 232 b,which is the second wager of the player that is initiated after thefirst pellet 232 a, has already been eaten by a fish 130 for a twocredit award. Thus the outcome corresponding to the second pellet 232 b,i.e., the two credit award for the second wager, has been indicatedbefore the outcome corresponding to the first pellet 232 a, wherein thefirst pellet 232 a is still drifting downwards.

The third pellet 232 c, which is the third wager of the player that isinitiated after the first pellet 232 a and the second pellet 232 b, hasalready reached the bottom of the screen 112 and has been snatched by acrab 234 for a bonus award. Thus, the outcome corresponding to the thirdpellet 232 c, i.e., the bonus award for the third wager, has beenindicated before the outcome corresponding to the first pellet 232 a andgenerally simultaneously with the outcome corresponding to the secondpellet 232 b.

The outcome corresponding to the fourth pellet 232 d, which is thefourth wager of the player that is initiated after the first threepellets 232 a-232 c, has not been indicated yet. Potentially, theoutcome corresponding to the fourth pellet 232 d can occur after,before, or generally simultaneously with the outcome corresponding tothe first pellet 232 a.

In the examples described above, the random selection of an outcome isindicated at least in part by the location on the touch-screen that theplayer has chosen. In an alternative aspect of the invention, the awardassociated with a corresponding location on the touch-screen can changeas a function of time. For example, it is assumed that the player canchoose a location to drop a pellet from up to fifty discrete locations(#1-#50). In each one of the fifty locations, there is a correspondingaward. The CPU continuously updates and changes the awards every 2seconds. The player makes a first wager in location #33 at time zero,resulting in a zero credit award. Then, the player makes a second wagerin location #33 two seconds later, resulting in a maximum credit award.Alternatively, in another example the selection of an outcome can bebased on a random number that is drawn instantly on the player's touch.Thus, the award can be provided entirely as a function of time.

Optionally, for each time interval in each one of the discretelocations, the CPU could assign the time between “wager input” and“indicated outcome” from an nearly infinite list of times. For example,for each two-second interval in each one of the fifty discrete locationsthe CPU could assign a time of one second, for a pellet being eaten atthe top, and a time of five seconds, for a pellet being eaten at thebottom.

In addition, because casinos like high coin-input rate, the pace of playcan be changed to increase the rate of wagers received. For example, ifthe machine is being played slow, such as when the player takes a longtime between wagers, the fish can speed up to show more aggression—i.e.,the fish are hungry—to increase the speed of the game independent of thetime the player takes between wagers. Thus, instead of indicating that apellet has reached the bottom in five seconds, the game may indicatethat the pellet has reached the bottom in three seconds.

In the examples described above in reference to FIGS. 4-12, the player'sselection of a desired wager, using any of the four selection keys118-124, and the initiation of the pellets 132, 232 is to be understoodas being one step, i.e., receiving a wager input. Thus, the temporalindependence of the outcomes to each other can occur regardless of thenumber of intermediate steps, which may be required from the playerafter selecting a desired wager and before indicating a correspondingoutcome.

While the temporal independence of the outcomes has been described withregard to a fish-feeding theme, many other themes can be employed toachieve a similar effect on a wagering game. For example, the player mayplace the wager in the form of floating balloons and the outcomes, whichcorrespond to the height or distance of each balloon's trajectory, canbe indicated at different times. Another theme can be related to a gamewhere the player chooses the location of butterfly nets in a field,wherein the outcomes correspond to whether the butterflies fly into thenets. Yet another theme can be related to a game where the playercoordinates a small army, wherein the outcomes correspond to whether thearmy wins a battle.

In an alternative aspect of the invention, multiple outcomes areindicated in response to the player selecting a single location on thetouch-screen. For example, in response to a first wager input and asecond wager input, the player touches the touch-screen in a singlelocation to initiate, generally simultaneously, corresponding pellets.The outcomes corresponding to each of two pellets are temporallyindependent of each other.

Alternatively, some of the multiple outcomes can be indicated at a timelater than the time that the player has selected the single location onthe touch-screen. For example, referring to the above example, a firstpellet is initiated after the player has touched the touch-screen. Afterthe first pellet has traveled a predetermined distance, the first pelletspawns a second pellet. Thus, the excitement level of playing the gamemay increase because the player may root for the second pellet to spawnbefore the first pellet is eaten by a fish.

Optionally, the amount of the wager input is offered to the player at adiscount based on the number of pellets that are purchased. For example,assuming that the normal cost per single pellet is one credit, theplayer can buy three pellets for two credits, five pellets for threecredits, etc.

While the invention is susceptible to various modifications andalternative forms, specific embodiments thereof have been shown by wayof example in the drawings and herein described in detail. For example,the temporal independence of the selected outcomes can occur in anywagering game, including a basic game, a bonus game, and a progressivegame. The basic game, for example, can be slots, poker, keno, bingo,blackjack, or roulette. Optionally, the temporal independence of theselected outcomes can occur in a bonus game that is triggered by astart-bonus outcome (e.g., an outcome in slots that includes apredetermined reel symbol or symbol combination). It should beunderstood, however, that it is not intended to limit the invention tothe particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is tocover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling withinthe spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

1. A method of conducting a wagering game, comprising: receiving a firstwager input and a second wager input from a player for playing a singlegame cycle of a wagering game; selecting a first randomly selectedoutcome from a plurality of outcomes in response to said first wagerinput and a second randomly selected outcome of said plurality ofoutcomes in response to said second wager input; and indicating saidfirst randomly selected outcome temporally independent of indicatingsaid second randomly selected outcome.
 2. The method of claim 1, whereinsaid indicating includes displaying at least one of said first randomlyselected outcome and said second randomly selected outcome on a display.3. The method of claim 1, further comprising inputting a player choiceto trigger a gaming sequence of said wagering game for each one of saidfirst randomly selected outcome and said second randomly selectedoutcome.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein said inputting step includescontacting a location of a touch-screen display.
 5. The method of claim1, wherein said first wager input is received before said second wagerinput and said first randomly selected outcome is indicated after saidsecond randomly selected outcome.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein saidwagering game is selected from a group consisting of a basic game, abonus game, and a progressive game.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein atleast one of said first randomly selected outcome and said secondrandomly selected outcome is a bonus-triggering outcome that triggers abonus game.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising awarding anaward for each one of said first randomly selected outcome and saidsecond randomly selected outcome.
 9. A computer readable storage mediumencoded with instructions for directing a gaming terminal to perform themethod of claim
 1. 10. A method of conducting a wagering game,comprising: receiving a plurality of wager inputs from a player forplaying a single game cycle of a wagering game; selecting a plurality ofoutcomes corresponding to said plurality of wager inputs in response tosaid receiving step, each one of said corresponding outcomes beingrandomly selected from a plurality of outcomes; and indicating each oneof said corresponding outcomes temporally independent of each other. 11.The method of claim 10, further comprising determining the size of anaward based on a location on a touch-screen chosen by the player. 12.The method of claim 11, wherein said location is chosen by contacting atouch-screen of a video display to trigger an award-determining gamingsequence.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein said determining step isbased at least in part on the length of time of said gaming sequence.14. A computer readable storage medium encoded with instructions fordirecting a gaming terminal to perform the method of claim
 10. 15. Agaming system for playing a wagering game on a gaming terminal,comprising: a display on said gaming terminal for displaying at leasttwo outcomes of a plurality of outcomes, said at least two outcomesbeing randomly selected in response to each of said at least twooutcomes receiving a corresponding wager input from a player playing asingle game cycle of said wagering game; and a controller coupled tosaid display and programmed to indicate on said display said at leasttwo outcomes temporally independent of each other.
 16. The gaming systemof claim 15, wherein said display is a touch-screen display.
 17. Thegaming system of claim 15, wherein said controller is further programmedto present on said display a gaming sequence of said wagering game foreach one of said at least two outcomes, said gaming sequence beingtriggered by a player input.
 18. The gaming system of claim 15, whereinsaid controller is further programmed to indicate a second one of saidat least two outcomes before a first one of said at least two outcomes,said second one of said at least two outcomes having a correspondingwager input that is received after a corresponding wager input of saidfirst one of said at least two outcomes.
 19. The gaming system of claim15, wherein said wagering game is selected from a group consisting of abasic game, a bonus game, and a progressive game.
 20. The gaming systemof claim 15, wherein at least one of said at least two outcomes is abonus-triggering outcome.
 21. The gaming system of claim 15, whereinsaid controller is further programmed to provide an award for at leastone of said at least two outcomes, said award being dependent on achoice inputted by the player.
 22. The gaming system of claim 15,further comprising a wager input device coupled to said processor, saidwager input device having a wager-amount adjustability feature and awager-number adjustability feature.
 23. The gaming system of claim 15,wherein said wagering game has a fish-feeding theme.